Each was facing life, knowing their daughters had been killed in murders which would become infamous.

Now, following the recent death of monster killer Ian Brady, Sharon Henderson has told how she took comfort from the mum of Moors murder victim Lesley Ann Downey, who gave her the strength to fight for justice.

Sharon’s seven-year-old daughter Nikki Allan was murdered in 1992 and her tiny body was found in a pool of blood in a derelict building in Sunderland’s East En. She had been stabbed 37 times and hit over the head with a brick.

After repeated appeals for information, and even a reconstruction on BBC’s Crimewatch, the murderer remains at large.

She met Lesley’s mum, Ann West, in Manchester after she was invited to her house following Nikki’s gruesome death. And they instantly struck up a bond and remained friends before Ann passed away in 1999.

Moors murderer Ian Brady

Earlier this week Brady died at the age of 79 at Ashworth High Security Hospital on Merseyside. The beast had been locked up since 1966 when he was jailed for killing five children along with accomplice Myra Hindley and burying them on Saddleworth Moor.

“Brady and Hindley were monsters, and I’m glad they are both now dead,” said Sharon, 50, of Ryhope, Sunderland.

“Lesley and I became friends when she sent me a bereavement card after Nikki’s death. She saw me on the TV and in the newspapers and she said she could feel my pain.

“She invited me down to her house in Manchester and she hadn’t changed her livingroom since the ‘60s, from when her daughter died. I thought it was strange at the time but I am living that nightmare now and I am stuck in the past where I can’t move on.

“I will never forget Ann telling me to fight for justice. She said ‘Sharon, never give up’ and I haven’t. She was inspirational and she gave me the strength I needed.”

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Brady had been suffering from a lung and chest condition when he died last Monday.

And Greater Manchester Police said on Tuesday they will never close the case of Keith despite Brady’s death after Brady took the secret of where he had buried the last of his victims to the grave with him.

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Sharon added: “In my heart I hope one day the remains of Keith Bennett will be found so he can be laid to rest with his mam.

“While Nikki’s killer is still out there, each day I am locked in a living nightmare and I will never stop fighting to get her killer behind bars”

The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965 (Image: Daily Mirror)

Desperate for another victim, cruel Brady and Hindley visited a fairground on Boxing Day, 1964, and came across Lesley Ann Downey.

They approached the 10-year-old and lured her back to their house, where she was undressed, gagged and forced to pose for photographs before being raped and killed.

The following morning Brady and Hindley drove with Downey’s body to Saddleworth Moor, where she was buried, naked with her clothes at her feet, in a shallow grave.

At their trial in 1966, all-male jurors fell silent for 16 minutes as the tape recording of Lesley Ann Downey’s terrified last moments was played to the court.

The tape was played at full volume and the chilling sounds of screaming echoed through the court before only the footsteps and soft voices in the background could be heard.

Harrowing passages could be heard including “Don’t undress me, will you?” and “I want to see mummy”.